


Broken Plaster

by LikeWaterisWet



Series: Unus Annus Shorts [2]
Category: CrankGameplays - Fandom, Real Person Fiction, youtube - Fandom
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Dogs, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, It does get better, Panic Attacks, Past Abuse, Sappy Ending, Talking, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, its not graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:18:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22270156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LikeWaterisWet/pseuds/LikeWaterisWet
Summary: Mark punches a hole in the wall. Ethan doesn't cope very well.
Relationships: Ethan Nestor & Evan, Mark Fischbach & Ethan Nestor
Series: Unus Annus Shorts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1602670
Comments: 10
Kudos: 342
Collections: eef whump





	Broken Plaster

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this one for the past several weeks and I wasn't completely sure I even wanted to post it. I'm sorry for constantly whumping and giving Ethan all of the angst- that isn't likely to change much with this series and what I have planned so far. 5 pages of angsty writing? it's more likely than you think.
> 
> This is not a reflection of the people in this as it is fiction, please don't take this to be what happened at any point in real life.  
> I hope you enjoy!

The tension had been slowly building in Ethan’s body. The only thing tempering the intrinsic panic in his mind at Mark’s aggressive shouting was the knowledge that they were friends, and that he wouldn’t ever purposefully hurt him (not that something as flimsy as friendship had ever stopped anyone else before). They were filming some dumb challenge for Unus Annus where they had to do the Presidential Fitness Test, and Ethan was starting to feel the exhaustion setting in from the series of exercises they had already finished. It had been almost eight minutes since Mark had gotten on the exercise bike and Ethan could feel his attention slipping. They had shouted back and forth at each other for the first few minutes but that soon quieted as the only remaining sound was Mark’s heavy breathing, leaving Ethan alone with his wandering mind.

  
Time trickled away as Ethan stared blankly at Mark’s peddling feet. Occasionally he would lift the megaphone to his lips to mutter “oasis” under his breath to try and push Mark to go faster. In a bid to try and stay grounded in the moment Ethan turned to face Evan and the camera, slowly repeating the mantra of oasis. He was snapped out of his mindless haze by Mark’s breathy “time.” It took longer than it should of for his mind to kick back into gear to read off the timer they had set up on his phone.

  
Ethan stuttered through reading the time, feeling his panic continue to rise as Mark shouted angrily at him. He had been pulled off balance by the jarring return to being present in his mind. It felt like his whole world was tilted to the side. He let his hand drop the megaphone as his hands started to tremble. Mark slipped down off of the exercise bike and Ethan tried his hardest to suppress the flinch that instinctively gripped his spine. He softened his voice as he tried to backpedal. Mark started to pace angrily. Evan started to drop the camera, moving to stand closer to Ethan as the tension in the room elevated the longer Mark was angry. Ethan called Mark’s name, his voice softened with the plea to calm down.

  
With a low yell Mark whirled around and punched the wall. Ethan had frozen at the sound of the enraged yell, flinching violently as the sound of Mark’s fist hitting the wall. Evan slowly dropped the camera, unsure of what to do. Ethan’s breathing was too fast and his whole body was trembling as he stared blankly into the middle distance, clearly caught up in his mind. Mark turned around slowly, the anger having fully faded from his face.

  
“Sorry,” Mark murmured out, embarrassment making his face flush slightly. It had been such a long time since he had truly lost control of his temper like that. He paused as he took in the scene in front of him. Evan was hovering, concern painted across his face as Ethan was hunched over himself his whole body shaking.

  
“Ethan?” Mark asked quietly as he stepped forward to try and see what was wrong with his friend. Ethan flinched at the movement, seemingly getting lost further into his head. Mark glanced helplessly across at Evan, both of them at a complete loss as to what to do.

  
“Ethan?” Evan asked as softly as he could, kneeling down next to Ethan’s trembling form. Ethan’s eyes remained misted over as he failed to process reality. “Are you okay buddy?” Evan slowly reached out and rested his hand against Ethan’s shoulder, trying to jar him out of his thoughts. Ethan curled further into himself, trying to pull away from the gentle pressure on his shoulder.

  
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” The quiet mantra grew slightly louder until even Mark could hear it several steps away. His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to figure out what it was that Ethan was trying to apologize for. There was something that he was missing, and for the life of him he couldn’t put his finger on it.

  
“You’re okay. You didn’t do anything wrong,” Mark tried to soothe Ethan, concern for his friend overriding the confusion.

  
“Please, I’m sorry.” Ethan let out a low whine, the trembling in his body increasing. Mark watched as he whispered out something else, too quiet for him to understand what he said. Shocked recognition flashed across Evan’s face as he pulled his hand back from Ethan’s body. Mark tilted his head to the side, trying to catch Evan’s eye to get some sort of an answer out of the other man about what was going on. Evan looked up grimly, shaking his head minutely, stepping around Ethan’s shaking form to head towards the door.

  
“What-” Mark started to ask before Evan cut him off by grabbing his wrist and pulling him out of the door. Mark hesitated briefly, glancing back at the hunched form of his friend before conceding that he didn’t have enough information to properly help.

  
“Spencer,” Evan called for the young dog as soon as they were out of the room. The clicking of nails against the hardwood sounded as all of the dogs made their way over, Chica and Henry following Spencer towards the door that Evan and Mark were hovering in front of.

  
“He needs your help,” Evan whispered to the dogs as he slowly pulled open the door. “Be gentle, please.” As soon as the door was open the dogs started walking slowly into the room; even Henry, who was usually so reserved around anyone except Amy padded into the small room to try and help Ethan.

“What happened in there?” Mark demanded, as soon as the door was closed behind the dogs. Worry and confusion warring in his mind. Evan just grimly shook his head.

  
“Where’s your first-aid kit, you likely hurt your hand on the wall,” Evan changed the subject deliberately, staring Mark down when he refused to move. After a moment of trying to get a proper read off of his friend Mark gave him, leading the way to the drawer that held all of their emergency supplies (which was quite a few considering how often he managed to get himself injured).

  
Evan jumped into tending to Mark’s hand to try and distract himself from the door. Mark had nothing to pull his focus from the fact that it had almost been ten minutes and the door still wasn’t opening. Once Evan finished cleaning and loosely bandaging his hand they sat in silence, both of them waiting tensely for Ethan to leave the room.

  
After several eternal minutes they had both started to fidget; neither of them were particularly good at inaction. Just as Mark could feel his patience run thin the door creaked open slowly. Ethan was standing in the doorway, Spencer and Chica close at his heels. His gaze was fixated on the floor as he shuffled over to the couch, sitting down heavily on the cushions. Chica immediately hopped up and laid down on his lap while Spencer sat protectively at his feet. Henry wandered out of the room a moment later, settling down on the couch, close to Ethan but not quite touching him. Ethan wove his hands through Chica’s fur thoughtless as he stared down at the carpet, refusing to look at either of his friends.

  
“Ethan?” Mark asked quietly, concern seeping into his voice. Ethan hummed softly in response, his eyes flitting up to look briefly at Mark before looking back down at the floor, a light blush spreading across his face. “Are you okay?”

  
“Yeah. ‘M sorry,” Ethan mumbled out, his words slightly shaky. Relief poured through the other two men as Ethan talked.

  
“It’s okay,” Evan assured him, a brief smile flickering across his face as he searched Ethan for any remaining fear or tension. Something akin to frustration crossed Ethan’s face briefly as he gripped Chica’s fur tighter.

  
“What happened in there?” Mark blurted out, unable to stop himself from asking any longer. Ethan winced, he knew the question was coming but he wasn’t sure if he was ready to answer it. He knew that Mark and Evan deserved answers, it would probably be better for all of them if he answered their questions, they could probably help. But, he didn’t want to talk about it. It was so much easier to just push it down and forget about all the feelings that bubbled up in his chest until he felt ready to burst. It’s clear that Evan knew some of what had happened, given that he had sent the dogs in to comfort him while he got Mark and himself out of the room. Ethan glanced up, he had been stuck in his head for almost a full minute, trying to figure out if he was properly ready to talk about it. He let out a deep breath, trying to steady himself as much as possible. It was time to talk about it, he couldn’t keep suppressing it just for it to crop up at the worst of times like it had today.

  
“You remember last year?” Ethan asked, his voice barely audible. Mark slowly nodded, staring intently at Ethan’s inclined head, trying to read as much off of him as possible.

  
“You remember Emily?” His voice hitched on her name, his hands trembling where they were buried in Chica’s soft fur. Mark’s eyebrows furrowed as his mind worked on overdrive trying to figure out how the girl Ethan had dated for several months was connected to his freakout earlier.

  
“Towards the end. Things weren’t super great,” Ethan paused between almost every word, hesitant to even talk about it at all. His pulse rocketed up for a moment as he tapped against Chica’s side, trying to calm himself down.

  
“She didn’t like it when I talked nonsense,” he trailed off again, staring down at his hands, resolutely refusing to look up at the others. “Sometimes she got, angry.”

  
Mark sucked in a breath as everything clicked in his head. White hot rage briefly blanking out his mind. “Did she ever-” Mark found himself unable to continue, the words getting stuck in his throat. Ethan glanced up before nodding slowly. Mark deflated as he looked across at his friend who looked so lost.

  
“Sometimes when she was really angry, she would hit me,” Ethan breathed out. He felt his body sag as he said the words out loud. That was the first time he was telling anyone. Mark brought a hand up to his face as he rubbed wearily at his eyes. The relief at finally admitting that something had happened between them bubbled up in Ethan’s chest, filling the emptiness left behind from the breakdown with something akin to strength.

  
“I’m sorry,” Evan murmured out, his heart felt heavy with guilt and sadness.

  
“It’s not your fault. You weren’t the one who hurt me,” Ethan glanced up as he frowned across the room. He didn’t want his friends to blame themselves. He was the one who didn’t leave her once the red flags started to crop up. No matter how much better he had gotten it was hard to not blame himself still.

“We should have noticed that something was up. We’re your friends. We should have been there for you,” Mark whispered, exhaustion seeping into his whole body.

  
“I didn’t want anyone to know. I wasn’t ready to talk about it. After I left her I wanted to just forget it all, push it behind me and never think about it ever again. Clearly that worked out super well.” Ethan winced at his own words. He didn’t mean to be so harsh, but it was easier to not show just how drained he was from the whole thing. Ethan could feel the frustration at his breakdown and weakness start to filter through his head. It was bullshit that he was still subject to all of the messed up stuff that she made him think about himself.

  
“Still, I’m sorry that you had to go through that alone. Know that you aren’t alone anymore. If there’s anything we can do to help, please tell us,” Evan said quietly, shifting in his seat so he could look more directly at Ethan.

  
“Yeah it was shitty, but I’m a lot better now that I’m out of the relationship. It’s been ages since I even thought about her. I’m getting better. I know today doesn’t make that seem like the truth, but I am.” Ethan was starting to regain his footing on reality. It truly had been almost a month since the last time he had properly freaked out over anything reminding him of her. It was hard to remember when he was in the midst of a breakdown, but he was getting better.

  
“I’m proud of you,” Mark said quietly, pushing aside the guilt that threatened to rise in his throat at the reminder that he had been the one to trigger Ethan’s freakout in favor of focusing on just how much better he sounded now that he was through it.

  
“Thank you. Now do you want to go back and finish filming so we can get this video done for the day?” Ethan asked, determination sweeping aside the lingering lethargy that lingered in his bones from his breakdown.

  
“Are you sure you want to jump back into filming?” Mark asked, hesitantly.

  
“Yes. Plus, running on the treadmill will probably help me center myself even more, exercise is really good at getting my energy back up,” Ethan smiled slightly, trying to convey just how okay he was with starting to film again.

  
“Okay, but can we talk about this more later? I don’t want to freak you out like that again,” Mark asked, the concern weighing heavily at his heart. Ethan nodded jerkily, he really didn’t want that lingering over him while they recorded but he knew it was probably for the best all things considered. It would be nice to actually talk about everything that she did to him with someone who cared for him so much. The room went silent for several minutes as everyone worked on their own to process the past several minutes.

  
“Thank you,” Ethan said abruptly as he started to push Chica off of him to get up.

  
“What for?” Mark asked, startled by his sudden declaration.

  
“Listening. Caring,” Ethan shrugged tailing off, not quite sure how to phrase just how much lighter he felt after talking about what had happened, even if it was in such vague terms.

  
“Of course,” Mark said softly, standing up and stretching slightly to work out the remaining tension in his shoulders. Mark stepped forwards hesitantly to stand in front of Ethan. He looked his friend over from the closer distance and nodded to himself. Ethan really did look a lot more like himself again.

  
“Is it okay if I hug you?” Mark asked, not wanting to accidentally freak Ethan out again. Ethan tilted his head to the side minutely, confusion flickering across his face before he smiled softly. Without saying anything he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the taller man, letting his face drop onto Mark’s shoulder. Automatically Mark’s arms wrapped around Ethan’s thin frame, a smile playing across his face. They stood wrapped around each other for several long moments, both trying to push as much compassion and love at the other as possible.

  
“It’s not your fault,” Ethan said, stepping back slightly so that he could look Mark in the eyes. Mark’s brow furrowed briefly before he smoothed his expression back over.

  
“It’s not yours either,” Mark said back softly. Ethan gave him a gentle smile at that. He had some of the kindest and genuinely caring people on his side and in that moment Ethan knew that everything was going to be okay in the end. It might not be the next day, it might take him several years to fully heal, but he wouldn’t be going at it alone ever again.

**Author's Note:**

> Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Home Again](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23071669) by [ardett](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ardett/pseuds/ardett)




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